film synopsis

the genre of my film is a psychological thriller, the theme is zombies. the storyline is two strangers meet whilst escaping a pandemic of flesh eating zombies. the film quote 'relying on strangers never ends well' suggests that the relationship of the two characters isn't a stable one.
the first two minutes will introduce the character and clearly illustrate the situation they're in and the severity of it.
the characters...
josh:played by:Alex Stevens
steve:playeby:lucas (me)
zombie:played by:anyone who wants to.
cameraman:sam martin/anyone with half a brain.
area:(dartmoor)special effects will be fairly limited but we'll make the most of what we have. ketchup, noodles and red paint make excellent blood splatters and chunks of brains.

special effects.

Ive been using photo shop to imitate the effect i want on the zombies. yay!
my final filming will take place over the christmas holiday, this will give me more time to edit and film.
i will be adding my own music, seeing as i play the drums i can add slow percussion leading to fast, dramatic tribal drumming. this will add tension and fill in the sound gap asuring my film isnt boring.

editing.

I've made some progress with editing. i still need some more shots but its better than nothing. I'm currently up to the part where the 2 characters stop and eat, shortly after which they spot a car in a near-bye ditch.

my influences.

im taking some influence from previous zombie films such as 'Shaun of the dead' form the comedy perspective.

 i want my characters to have joy in killing zombies have opinions and be funny, i cant have two crapy actors loking and sounding unrealistic. the idea is the two people in the film have character, opinions and differnat views. the conflict between them is also inportant, i want it to seem they got stuck with each other on their journey.


they have to be constantly arguing,  or disagreeing. but the idea is at the end of the film they'll warm up to each other after their ordeal...or on of them will die.




i like the filming style in 'Shaun of the dead' which is why i want to focus on this as my influence, there are some clever squences giving both sespence and laughter.

how will i make this?

zombie films arnt easy, but i have some tricks up my sleeve to make it a breeze.
firstly ill keep on screen zombie smashing simple.
secondly ill use makeshift fake blood and make up to make the characters look like real zombies.
most zombie smashing will occour off screen, but movements on screen will be clear enough to see what is happening.
and finally ill give subtle hints to the situation at hand, such as a broken radio spiting out chunks of zombi reports and bloody hand prints on car windows.

genre, slight change

right. my previous idea of me being hit by a car will be very difficult. instead I'm thinking that when the main character stops and looks scared it cuts to a figure hunched over, the main character calls out "hey" at this point the hunched over character turns to the camera slowly with blood on its face. as you've probably figured out by now I'm thinking as a main focus....


ZOMBIES. this i can do very easily with a few changes to filming and some adequate use of fake blood and torn clothes.

front cover/advertisment poster

been working on a front cover for my film. this gives an idea as to what the film is about and who the main character is. the viewer of this poster wouldnt find it hard to see that this is a thriller or horror, the overall scene is dark and srange, black and white gives another dark feel to the atmosphere.

this also shows the kind of light i have to work with in the forest, the thin gaps between trees means ill get some nice light affects, ill have to be careful though because i want the light in the right place (on actors faces, key objects etc)

filming plan

filming plan, I'm filming tomorrow, the plan is to go to lydford in the morning with Sam, my co-Filmer. we will start at about lunch when the light is the best, the weather doesn't really effect my film as I'm happy with grim, dull weather. i will be DE-saturating the film anyway but dull weather would look good in my film.


i want the filming style to be dark and dim, showing how the character is in a dark situation and needs help

video plan

video plan from lucas ormond-skeaping on Vimeo.

here's my new video plan, it should explain what im trying to do.

storyboard

ive finished my storyboard video, its on vimeo but hasnt uloaded yet, ill upload it tomorow.

music has been decided.

I've finally made a decision for my opening music, the song is called 'Danger - keep awy' by slipknot, the song is slow paced and very strange, weird sounds and speech patterns can be heard in the background of the song, which is perfect for the feel of my movie.

fliming progress

my brother helped me do some filming the other day, it wasnt in my target area or exactly to my speciforcations but it will definatly help my research and planing.

some photos of the area and dilemas. :/

I'm yet to upload my video introduction to my screenplay, character design and storyboard so sorry i haven't thought well enough about this.
been to the forest in lydford recently, got some pictures of the area ill be filming, haven't actually done any filming yet but Wednesday is my starting point.
also got some video diary but i don't know how to upload it to my blog yet, but hear are some of the area pictures.


this first shot is of where the car in my film will be stationed.

 this second shot is further up the track

 and again.

 this is just round the corner still heading backwards.

 this is where the car will turn right and knock the character into the forest.

 and again.

 this is where the main character will land.

and where he will wander into the forest.

I'm going to have to shoot during the day as not much light reaches this part of the forest, i will add effects in after effects afterward such as DE-saturation and dimming. DE-saturation will help the movie look professional and and strange.

these pictures have helped me think about how my film will move over the landscape, i have anitated these at home which also gives ideas as to how to plan it out.

MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC...

Once again im listeneing to a song and i get an image in my head playing over and over, there so many differant ways i can film this, but only one will make the cut...


...and all the others will be cut.

target audience research. was never going to be easy.

I'm going to Highlight every post about research in blood red, enjoy!

I suppose i could have done this alot better. instead of creating servays or arnsir quizzes for people to arnsir i just randomly approached people with a notebook and asked them about my genre...didn't work that well to be honest.
but eventually i got some honest arnsirs, not form the hustle and bustle of Goosey fair but in the calm of an average Friday afternoon in Tavistock, i also asked a few people on the following Saturday.


"what comes to your mind when i mentions psychological thriller, and why would you watch one?"


was my question i repeated about 34 times, i varied my age range for those who i asked but younger pedestrians aren't as willing to talk to a stranger with a notebook and a Mohawk.


i got a variety of arnsirs mostly positive but some people thinking i meant horror.
here are some of the responses i got...


"they give you something to concentrate on during the movie, they use puzzles and mind tricks instead of the average gunfight with an attack helicopter scene"


"not a huge fan myself but id watch one if it was highly recommended kind of thing you'd watch if u wanted a puzzle right?"


"why you asking me?"


"I'm not too fond of em, just used to scare young children ain't they? stuff like saw, bl**dy horrible"


"have to say, at times there alright but they're not for the faint of heart, for example an illiterate teen might watch it and not know what the story line was, more adult viewing i think..."


"if you can give me an example i could get back to you on that"


This last comment was a valid point, i had nothing to compare my movie to, how would i get a decent response if i didn't have an example. all in all i got about 18 comments out of around 30 people i asked, people arn't to fond of engaging in a conversation with me...
...don't blame them.

audience...AGAIN!?

typical id pick the one genre that almost no people watch, hmmm ahwell i think the kind of people to watch this would be people interested in horrors or nigma (puzzle). not forgeting young children wo saty up past their bed time expecting it to be a horror and end up being disapointed by having to concentrate on what is going on.... OH wait that was me when i was about 11.
but anyway the audience in my case would be 15 or older because i want some adult content in ti if its a phycho thriller it will have violence. this aside my audience will be accounted for.
as a sujgestion ive also included some ideas about genre, race and religeon. ive had to think hard about this but ive now understood that religeon and/or race can affect my adience, by who the main charicter is, or comments in the movie, for example a joke or comment that could affent a member of a rlegeon or race.

Decision time

of the many times I've thought about my project the majority of times I've been thinking about an action or Phsychological Thriller. although action would be sick I've decided to pick Phsycho Thriller because i can make weird effects and maybe a car chase scene. so I've got past all the namby pamby "I don't know what to do" stage and into the cocky "I'm gonna make the best film here" stage, although i have no doubt ill struggle I'm still quite confident about my ideas and think they'll work well..


... well, i hope they will.

another reason i chose this genre is because it will show my skills well, i also enjoy the genre as a member of an audience, the thrill of not knowing what will happen next and the way its always a suprise. i think id like to establish a scense of shock and awe in my viewers.

strange sound effects and colour filters will ad a chill and make the viewer wonder what will happen next, the charicter will have to be quite nervous in order to express his situation. 

music music music...

So yet again I'm looking though my Ipod and i find an awesome song and find my self day dreaming about what it would go well to. in my latest case i was listening to Eric Clapton; white room.
this would go great to a movie introduction with a travel sequence. maybe a man walking though a forest or down a river or a car going down multiple stretches of road.
Damn my imagination, I cant do every idea i think of...or can i...?


...nope i guess not

I woke up one morning and shot an elephant in my pyjamas , what it was doing in my pyjamas i dont know...

if i did a comedy i'd enjoy doing a slapstick, this means i still get to film fun action scenes but i dont have to take it so seriously, people could get comicly hurt, fall off big drops and walki into lamp posts. making people laugh is a very important aspect of this becauce if its not funny, its nor a comedy.
i would also have to consider who was in my film if its a comedy because not many people i know would hurt or make fools out of them selves willingly, so i either have to think carefully... or tie them up...




...nah screw that.

im lazy to...nevermind

been thinking about what genre will be the easiest to make, comedy I'd have to come up with jokes or comic scenes and a psychological thriller i would have to film carefully and add strange effects and mind tricks. a war film would be vaguely easy except intros are often quite complicated..
damn i need to think about this more.

thinking about my audience... I thought this was for me?

 I've been thinking about who my audience would be. I was thinking how depending on my genre what the age rating would be.
if i chose the comedy option i could start at 12 and go up, but if it was a phychological thriller or war comedy it would have to be a 15 or up, depending on the story line.
id also have to consider what hobbies the audience would have, what makes them interested in this film?
and also have to consider whether they we're male of female, if the comedy was selected it would be good for both genres, im not being sexist but to be fair if it was a war film there wouldnt be a huge variety of girls who would watch it. And depending on the content Boys would watch a phychological thriller to scare girls into their laps...

does this thing alow links?

thought of a good intro song if im doing a comedy, need a feel good song realy if im going to do a comedy...
Creedence Clearwater Revival:
Down on the corner.

i think this would be a good song to put in because its a real feel good song, would also be amusing in a war comedy.

thinking about my film genre...

ive been thinking quite alot about action or phycological thriller. these are quite difficault but as an introduction i think i could do quite well. i was also thinking about comedy, i thought Kit Steps a waterfall near where i live which could be used for all the genres i previously mentioned.
because the water is deep and the scenery dramatic i could easily perform stunts and comic falls without injuring myself...
much.

oh and here is my preliminary task.

preliminary task from lucas ormond-skeaping on Vimeo.